Memories of Da Vinci
by whoson1st
Summary: What was supposed to be sightseeing trip in the fifteenth century becomes something else when a blonde girl with too much knowledge about the Doctor stumbles out of an alley.


_**I've sort of binged on the Eighth Doctor audios from Big Finish lately, and suddenly got an intense need for this that wouldn't go away. I miss C'rizz and Charley so much...*sobs***_

* * *

"Oh, but isn't it wonderful, C'rizz?" the Doctor asked, spinning on the spot to take in the sights. "Humanity at its finest."

"Its loudest, certainly," C'rizz remarked, looking critical. "Do humans always shout so?"

"Tell me, have you met my friend Charley?" the Doctor asked, and they grinned at each other. "Where'd she get off to anyhow?"

"She sort of...wandered that way," C'rizz said, waving his hand vaguely.

"Ah, no matter, she'll be fine," the Doctor said. "I'm almost certain that there's no catastrophe to be averted here. At least not today."

"Which almost definitely means something will go wrong," C'rizz said with an eyeroll, and the Doctor frowned at him. "Oh, come on, Doctor-it's not exactly news that the more sure you are that everything is fine, the more likely-what the hell?"

"Oh, come _on_, C'rizz," the Doctor sighed in exasperation. "I'm far too old to fall for _that_."

"No, but Doctor," C'rizz said, pushing lightly at the Doctor's shoulder. "I mean it. I saw something-flash of light, or flash of _something_-right over-

"Where a confused looking girl appears to be stumbling out of an alley?" the Doctor asked.

"No catastrophe, eh?"

"Well...not yet," the Doctor said, giving the Eutermesan a sideways glance. "Come on."

They hurried over to the girl, who was quickly looking less confused and more irritated by the second. She was muttering to herself angrily, her words becoming clearer as they got closer.

"...be a snap, he says," she spat, fiddling with a device in her hands-a mobile, the Doctor realized after a cursory glance. "Sure we've got it locked this time, he says. Bloody stupid tin dog."

The Doctor looked the girl over as they approached. The mobile, along with her clothes...black trousers, blue leather jacket...she was definitely not local to the current Renaissance time zone, flashing lights notwithstanding. Might be interesting after all. There was something else about her, some vague ripple in time, though coming back from his future or forward from something he'd forgotten in the past, he wasn't sure.

"Excuse me," he said, and the girl's eyes snapped to them, instantly wary. "Might we be of some help?"

"Doubt it," she said, then did a double take at C'rizz. "Hang on...you're not human."

"You know, it's amazing how many people don't spot that," C'rizz said, glancing at the Doctor.

"Most people probably just think you have some strange skin disease," the Doctor said dismissively. "Too polite to comment. But not you."

"Oh...sorry, that was probably rude," the girl said, wincing a little. "Rude and not ginger."

"What?" the Doctor asked, thrown.

"Nothing," she said, shaking her head. "Look, nice of you to offer to help and all, but unless you've got access to an interdimensional blue box and/or a sonic screwdriver to help out my mobile, not a lot you can do. Where you from, anyhow? Don't recognize your species."

"You wouldn't," the Doctor said slowly, elbowing C'rizz when he opened his mouth to speak. "He's from another universe."

The girl snorted, still looking down at her mobile. "You and me, mate, we should get t-shirts. _Dammit_!" she burst out, flipping the mobile closed and running a hand through her hair in frustration while she looked around. "Where am I?"

"Italy, 1462," the Doctor said, narrowing his eyes at the girl.

"The Renaissance," she said, throwing a grin at him. "Maybe I could look in on Leonardo DaVinci."

"You could," the Doctor admitted. "He's ten, but yeah, you could."

"Mmm, may not. Dunno what he'd make of this, though," she added, waving her mobile, then sighed. "Either way...well and truly stuck."

"How'd you get here?" C'rizz asked curiously. Thankfully, he seemed to have gathered that the Doctor didn't want to divulge any information until they knew something more about the girl-the girl looking for a blue box and a sonic screwdriver. The latter seemed to have gained weight since she'd mentioned it, becoming distracting in his pocket, while the former was sending odd psychic vibes from where she was parked two streets over. It was almost like the old girl recognized the blonde in front of him, but he'd been going over his memory since the conversation started, and he was _sure _he'd never seen her before.

"How about just a name?" he asked when the girl seemed to hesitate, then she sighed again.

"Suppose it couldn't hurt anything," she said, leaning against the stone edifice of a nearby building. "My name's Rose. Rose Tyler."

The Doctor got a sudden intense feeling of vertigo, and swore he heard a wolf howl in the distance as his vision was filled with golden light. When it cleared, the girl-Rose-had moved to his side, opposite C'rizz, and both were attempting to steady him.

"You alright, mate?" Rose asked, watching him in concern.

"Yes, fine," he said, shaking them both off gently. "I'm not-I'm fine. Right then, Miss Tyler...I think you should tell me exactly where you're from, how you got here, and what, exactly, you planned to do once you got here."

Her expression immediately grew guarded again, and she took a step back from him. "I'm looking for someone."

"Why?" he demanded, unease wearing at his patience. Was it possible Rassilon had sent someone? No, that made no sense, if he found a way back to this universe, he would have come himself. _Think, Doctor._

"Because it's important," Rose said.

"For who?"

"For everyone," she snapped. "Why do you suddenly care so much anyhow? And how come you expect all this information from me, without telling me anything? What about you? S'not like you're local boys yourselves."

"That's our business," he said. "As are you, apparently."

"Oh, really?" she sneered. "Get a bit dizzy and suddenly my life story's up for grabs? How stupid's that?"

"_Stupid_?" he sputtered, taking a step toward her. "While your little field trip from another universe on some dubious mission is obviously _level-headed_."

"Oi!" she shouted, brows knitting together.

"Tell me who you are!"

"Give me a reason why I should!"

"Oooookay," C'rizz said, stepping between them. "I think perhaps we got off on the wrong foot here."

"Oh, d'you think?" the girl snorted.

"C'rizz, stay out of this," the Doctor said.

"Well, I'd like to," C'rizz said. "Trust me. But you're in a quickly escalating argument on a very public street, and I don't think any of us can afford the sort of attention we're drawing."

Rose huffed and spun on her heel, making to walk away, and the Doctor grabbed her elbow.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Anywhere else," she snapped. "I don't need the third degree from a couple of tourists, I need to figure out what the hell went wrong with my jump and figure out a way out of here. Since you're likely not going to be all that willing to help, even if you could, I'll find help somewhere else."

"Where?" C'rizz asked, looking around pointedly. "Not exactly a lot of technological advancements to be found here, except for our ship."

"_My _ship," the Doctor said stubbornly.

"Yes, alright, _your _ship," C'rizz said, rolling his eyes. "By the stone, is that a Time Lord thing? The ability to go from scary interrogator to toddler in half a second?"

"Time Lord?" Rose asked sharply, then narrowed her eyes at the Doctor, letting her gaze travel down the length of him in a way that unnerved him completely. She swallowed visibly, and brushed a stray hair out of her face in a transparent attempt to be casual. "What...um...what did you say your name was?"

"I didn't," he said in a way that was not at all petulant.

C'rizz sighed heavily. "He's the Doctor, and I'm C'rizz...and you obviously don't care at all."

This was added when Rose suddenly threw herself at the Doctor, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. The Doctor froze, throwing a panicked look at C'rizz, who could only shrug.

"Um, yes, hello," the Doctor said, patting Rose awkwardly on the back.

"Suppose we can rule out assassin," C'rizz said thoughtfully. "Unless it's death by embrace I suppose. And, I might not be the best judge of the human form, but I think there would probably be worse ways to go."

"Yes, alright, thank you, C'rizz," the Doctor said, disentangling himself carefully and stepping back.

"You don't know who I am," Rose said, her eyes suspiciously bright. "Right, early regeneration. We were worried this would happen. This is...well, this is bad. But I can't tell you how good it is to see you. Love the cravat...and the hair."

"Do you?" the Doctor asked, giving in to the impulse to straighten his cravat. "I will say, I think it's far better than my...previous incarnation's sense of style."

"Ohhh, is that when you wore the coat?" Rose asked, grinning at him, her tongue peeking out between her teeth.

"The coat, yes," he said, shuddering a little. "Dark times, Miss Tyler."

"Sorry, are we friends then?" C'rizz asked uncertainly.

"Well, not enemies, apparently," the Doctor said with a shrug. "But you said this is still bad."

"Oh, yeah," Rose said, her face falling a little. "Cause it's not the right time. I'm a few bodies early. At least two."

"I see," he said. "Which is why you didn't recognize me from the start. My future, so I wouldn't recognize you. Strange, though…"

"What?"

"Well, I think my TARDIS does," he said thoughtfully. "Recognize you, I mean. Even from here. And when you said your name...time is woven around you in way I've never seen before."

"Oh," she said, looking away. "That's...well, that's nothing to do with this."

"And what is...this, exactly?" he asked.

"It's...you know, I probably shouldn't tell you," she said.

"Why's that?"

"Because if I do, you won't be able to stop yourself from getting involved," she said, rolling her eyes and shaking her head.

"I won't-"

"See, you say that, but I know that mind of yours, Doctor," she said, pointing a finger at his head. "You find a problem, some knot somewhere it shouldn't be, you can't help but pick at it."

"She's got a point," C'rizz said. "In which case...probably best to find a way to send Rose on her way to find the right...you...before your curiousity gets the best of you."

"Hmmm...suppose you're right," he admitted. "Unless...I'm _supposed_ to get involved. Perhaps that's how you ended up here, Rose. Did it occur to you that I _am _the Doctor to help you?"

She smiled a little at him. "Nice try. But no. Chances are...you won't even remember any of this."

"Doctor!" Charley's voice called, and he turned to find her jogging toward them. "Doctor, this place is amazing! I mean, I've read about it in history books of course, but actually _being _here...never gets old. Especially after-oh. Who's this?"

"Oh, Charley, this is Rose Tyler," the Doctor said. "Rose, this is my dear friend, Charlotte Pollard."

He raised an eyebrow when he heard her mutter, "I'll be a dear friend one day too, you know," before smiling at Charley. "Pleased to meet you."

"And you," Charley said, smiling uncertainly and looking between her and the Doctor, then over to C'rizz. "Another friend of yours?"

"It would appear so," the Doctor said.

"Only not yet," C'rizz added.

"Of course not," Charley said. "You know, one day, we're going to go a whole day without things going completely mad."

"Never gonna happen," Rose said with a laugh. "Not around him, anyhow. But really, Doctor...C'rizz is right. I should go."

"If you're sure," he said.

"I'm sure," she insisted, but looked a little disappointed. "Shame, though. Leaving just when I found you. Still. Best this way. Mind taking a look? I think it's just the battery...the canon energy has a habit of sucking it dry, we're working on it."

"Hand it over," he said, pulling out his sonic screwdriver. She handed him her mobile, and he opened it up to look at the battery. "Hmm...hang on, I think I can do one better. How do you even manage to get this thing to connect on the other side?"

"Super phone," she said, stepping closer to watch him as he pulled out another battery. "You fixed it for me. Or will. Or whatever."

"I see," he said slowly. He popped the second battery into place and replaced the back of the phoned before handing it back to her. "That should do it. Insulated from some of the more obscure types of energy that can burn it out."

"Like void stuff?" she asked, the tongue touched smile making another appearance.

"Exactly like void stuff," he said, grinning back at her. "It's already charged, and should still work with your charger. Might take a bit longer, though."

"Thanks," she said. She turned it on, quickly dialing a number and giving him a tight smile as she waited for someone to answer. "Control, I need another jump. Yeah, the signal was good, but the timing's not. Wrong Doctor. Yeah. Alright, see you soon." She snapped the phone closed and looked up at him. "Sixty seconds. Gotta go. Nice to meet you, C'rizz, Charley."

"And you, Rose," C'rizz said while Charley smiled warmly.

"Good luck, Rose," the Doctor said.

She looked up at him for a moment, then leaned up to press her lips to his briefly. "You too," she whispered, then darted off into the alley she'd originally come out of. A few seconds later, there was another flash of light. The Doctor walked over to the alley, but wasn't surprised to see an empty dead end.

"Who was she, Doctor?" Charley asked, moving to his side.

He shrugged. "No idea."

"She kissed you," Charley reminded him.

"Yes, I noticed," he said. "Fascinating. Wonder what she was wishing me luck with."

"You know what I can't help noticing," C'rizz remarked. "I can understand why she didn't recognize you, with my scant knowledge of regeneration. But she didn't know Charley or I either. Which means whenever you meet her-"

"-we won't be there," Charley finished, looking back at the empty alley.

The Doctor glanced between them. "Well, that's a problem for tomorrow. You never know, could be another few centuries before I meet her."

"Could be next week," C'rizz pointed out.

"Oh, C'rizz, ever the pessimistic Eutermesan," the Doctor said, pulling both his companions away from the alley. "Hasn't anyone ever told you not to borrow trouble?" Charley and C'rizz continued to look doubtful, and he sighed. "Look, whatever day in the future I meet Miss Tyler, the real point is that it's not _today_. Today...we have the Italian Renaissance to explore-which is still fascinating even before Leonardo DaVinci became better known-and explore it we shall. But first, a stop at the TARDIS. Something I need to take care of."

It was some time-and several arguments-later that the three stepped out of the ship and into the city again, their minds wiped of a certain pink and yellow human.

Centuries later, long after all of them were nothing but a memory for him, when he'd traded his cravat for a tie and his velvet for pinstripes, he still thought of Charley and C'rizz when he looked at art from the Italian Renaissance. But he never could figure out why Rose Tyler tended to enter his thoughts when he looked at pieces from Leonardo DaVinci.


End file.
